Will Rodman, a scientist at the biotechnology company Gen-Sys, is testing viral-based drug ALZ-112 on chimpanzees to find a cure for brain ailments such as Alzheimer's disease. The drug is given to a chimpanzee, Bright Eyes, greatly increasing her intelligence. However, when Will is presenting 112 to his boss and uses Bright Eyes as an example, she is forced from her cage, goes on a rampage, and is killed. Will's boss Steven Jacobs terminates the project and orders chimp handler Robert Franklin to euthanize the chimps. After doing as ordered, Franklin discovers that Bright Eyes had recently given birth and understands the reason why she was disturbed. He convinces Will to save the baby chimp's life by taking him home temporarily. Will's father Charles, who is suffering from Alzheimer's, names the chimp "Caesar", in reference to William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, from which he can, despite his deteriorating mental condition, cite long passages from memory. Will learns that Caesar has inherited his mother's high intelligence (the 112 virus passing to him in utero) and decides to raise him, working from home and observing his behavior in hopes that he can get the project restarted. Three years later, Will introduces Caesar to the redwood forest at Muir Woods National Monument. Meanwhile, with Charles' condition rapidly deteriorating, Will treats him with ALZ-112 and he is restored to better-than-original cognitive ability.

After five more years and upon seeing a dog on a leash like his own, Caesar (now an adolescent) openly questions his identity and Will tells him of his origins. Meanwhile, Charles's dementia returns as he has become resistant to the ALZ-112. Caesar witnesses a confrontation between a confused Charles and neighbor Douglas Hunsiker and attacks Hunsiker. As a result, he is placed in a primate shelter where he is treated cruelly by the other chimps and the chief guard, Dodge Landon. Caesar learns how to unlock his cage, gaining free access to the common area. With the assistance of Buck, a gorilla, he confronts the sanctuary's alpha chimp and claims that position.

Jacobs clears development of a more powerful, gaseous version of the viral drug (now called ALZ-113) when Will tells him it will not only heal brain disease but also improve intelligence in anyone. Will takes the drug home to try to save his father, but Charles declines and dies overnight. After attempting to test the drug on an ape, Franklin becomes exposed to the new drug and becomes ill. Attempting to warn Will at his home, he sneezes blood onto Hunsiker and is later discovered dead. Will attempts to reclaim Caesar (after bribing the head of the shelter to release him), but the chimp refuses to go home with him. Instead, he escapes from the facility and returns to Will's house, where he takes canisters of the ALZ-113.

Returning to the facility, Caesar releases the gas, enhancing the intelligence of the other apes overnight. When Dodge attempts to get him back into his cage, Caesar shocks him by speaking for the first time, yelling "No!" Caesar then electrocutes the cattle prod-wielding Dodge by spraying him with water, unintentionally killing him. The apes flee the facility, release the remaining apes from Gen-Sys, and free the other apes from the San Francisco Zoo.

A battle ensues as the ape army fight their way past a police blockade on the Golden Gate Bridge to escape into the redwood forest. Buck sacrifices himself to save Caesar by jumping into the helicopter in which Jacobs is riding. The helicopter crashes onto the bridge, trapping Jacobs in the wreckage. Jacobs is then killed by Koba, an elder ape who had been a test subject all his life. As the apes find their way into the forest, Will arrives and warns Caesar that the humans will hunt them down, and begs him to return home. In response, Caesar hugs him and says that "Caesar is home." Will, realizing that this is indeed their last farewell, respects Caesar's wishes.

During the credits, Hunsiker (having been infected by Franklin) leaves his house for work as an airline pilot, arriving at San Francisco International Airport for his flight to Paris. His nose begins to drip blood onto the floor. A graphic traces the spread of the humanity-killing virus to Europe and then around the globe via international airline flight routes.

John Lithgow as Charles Rodman, Will's Alzheimer's-afflicted father and a former music teacher who improves after Will gives him the ALZ-112 and forms a strong bond with Caesar.

Brian Cox as John Landon, manager of the San Bruno Primate Shelter where Caesar is confined for a time. His full name is a reference to one of the astronauts in the original Planet of the Apes.

Tom Felton as Dodge Landon, John's son and an animal caretaker at the shelter, who enjoys treating the apes cruelly. His first and last name are references to two of the astronauts in the original Planet of the Apes.

Terry Notary as Rocket, the dominant chimpanzee at the ape sanctuary, until Caesar overthrows him. His name references the set decorator of Planet of the Apes, Norman Rockett. Notary also plays Bright Eyes, Caesar's mother who was captured in Africa. Her name is the nickname given to Charlton Heston's human character by Zira in the 1968 film.

Richard Ridings as Buck, a western lowland gorilla who pledges his allegiance to Caesar after he is freed by him. His name is a reference to Buck Kartalian, who played the gorilla Julius in the 1968 film and the gorilla Frank in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.

Devyn Dalton as Cornelia, a female chimpanzee in the ape sanctuary. Her name is based on that of Cornelius, played by Roddy McDowall in the original Planet of the Apes.

In 2006, screenwriter-producer Rick Jaffa was searching for a script idea. As Jaffa searched a newspaper articles clipping, one about pet chimpanzees that become troublesome to their owners and heartbroken for not adapting well to the human environment intrigued him. As Jaffa eventually realized it fit the Planet of the Apes series, he called his wife and screenwriting partner Amanda Silver to express his ideas of such a chimpanzee eventually starting the ape revolution, and then the couple started developing the character of Caesar. Jaffe indicated that "it's a reinvention" and if he had to pick between calling it a prequel or a reboot he would say it is a reboot: "It's a different story of who Caesar is, and how he came to be. So it's really kind of hard to put a label on it. We are hopefully rebooting it." He went on to say that "we tried really hard to create a story that would stand on its own and yet also pay homage and honor the movies that came before us.[9] Jaffa and Silver then wrote a script and sold it to Fox, producers of the Apes franchise. The script added other elements which the couple had researched, such as genetic engineering.[10] Several tributes to specific scenes, characters, and cast and crew from the previous Apes film series were added in the script. In particular, Caesar's treatment at the primate sanctuary parallels Taylor's treatment as a captive in the original film.[11][12]

In a segment of a video blog post, director Rupert Wyatt commented on the originality of the plot: "This is part of the mythology and it should be seen as that. It's not a continuation of the other films; it's an original story. It does satisfy the people who enjoy those films. The point of this film is to achieve that and to bring that fan base into this film exactly like Batman Begins."[6] In a 2009 interview, Wyatt said, "We've incorporated elements from Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, in terms of how the apes begin to revolt, but this is primarily a prequel to the 1968 film...Caesar is a revolutionary figure who will be talked about by his fellow apes for centuries...This is just the first step in the evolution of the apes, and there's a lot more stories to tell after this. I imagine the next film will be about the all-out war between the apes and humans."[13]

As the apes in Rise were meant to be actual instead of the anthropomorphic ones of the original Apes film franchise, the producers decided not to use actors in make-up or ape suits. After considering real apes, instead Weta Digital created the apes digitally in almost every case through performance capture.[16] Advances in the technology allowed the use of performance capture in an exterior environment, affording the film-makers the freedom to shoot much of the film on location with other actors, as opposed to the confines of a soundstage.[17][18] The main breakthrough was a camera that enabled viewing the motion capture dots in daylight, employed mostly for the Golden Gate Bridge battle. A maximum of six actors could have their movements captured, with larger ape crowds using fully digital animals animated using Weta's move library. The Golden Gate Bridge set used both a physical set which was extended digitally, and a fully computer-generated model of the bridge that also included the ocean and nearby hills.[19]

After shooting the actors playing humans interacting with others wearing the motion capture suits, a clean plate was shot with actors for extra reference. Actor-stuntman Terry Notary guided the actors on realistic ape movement, while Weta studied the chimps in the Wellington zoo for reference. The digital apes also received detailed models with skeletons, muscles and nerve tissue layers for accurate animation. Cast models of apes' heads and limbs helped the texture department replicate skin details such as wrinkles and pores. Given the difference between human and chimpanzee facial muscles, the animators tweaked the performance through a new facial muscle system adding dynamics, ballistics, and secondary motion. As the silent performance required expressive eyes, a new eye model was made to depict both greater accuracy in muscle movement in and around the eyes, and also tears, pupil dilation, and light refraction.[16][20] While Andy Serkis was the primary performer for Caesar, as the effects team considered that at times "Andy overcame the character," other motion capture team actors were also used, especially Devyn Dalton, whose height matched that of a chimpanzee. Along with that, they used Notary to play Caesar in stunt-filled scenes such as the Golden Gate Bridge scene.[21]

The score for the film was written by Patrick Doyle and performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony conducted by James Shearman.[22] The main concern was to have the music help progress the plot in the scenes without dialogue, for instance, conveying the emotions of Caesar's relationships with Will and Charles. To turn the score into a "driving force that keeps audiences paying attention," Doyle employed an African-American chorus and focused on percussion and "low and deep" orchestra sounds. Doyle collaborated closely with the sound department to make the music complement the sound effects, including writing a recurring theme based on their recording of a chimpanzee.[23]

Reviews for Rise of the Planet of the Apes have been positive, with review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reporting an 82% "Certified Fresh" rating, and an average rating of 7.1/10, based on 248 reviews. The site's critical consensus is: "Led by Rupert Wyatt's stylish direction, some impressive special effects, and a mesmerizing performance by Andy Serkis, Rise of the Planet of the Apes breathes unlikely new life into a long-running franchise."[24] Another review aggregator, Metacritic, reports a score of 68 based on 39 reviews.[25]

Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and praised the role of Caesar and Andy Serkis by stating it was a "wonderfully executed character" and "one never knows exactly where the human ends and the effects begin, but Serkis and/or Caesar gives the best performance in the movie."[26] Giving the film 5 out of 5 stars, Joe Neumaier of Daily News labelled Rise of the Planet of the Apes as the summer's best popcorn flick.[27] Nick Pinkerton of The Village Voice wrote, "Caesar's prison conversion to charismatic pan-ape revolutionist is near-silent filmmaking, with simple and precise images illustrating Caesar's General-like divining of personalities and his organization of a group from chaos to order."[28] Roger Moore of Orlando Sentinel wrote, "Audacious, violent and disquieting, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is a summer sequel that's better than it has any right to be." He gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars.[29]Manohla Dargis of The New York Times praised the film by saying, "Precisely the kind of summer diversion that the studios have such a hard time making now. It's good, canny-dumb fun." She also gave it 3.5 out of 4 stars.[30]

Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a surprise hit upon release. The film made its debut in the United States and Canada on roughly 5,400 screens within 3,648 theaters.[31] It grossed $19,534,699 on opening day and $54,806,191 in its entire opening weekend, making it #1 for that weekend as well as the fourth highest-grossing August opening ever.[32] The film held on to the #1 spot in its second weekend, dropping 49.2%, and grossing $27,832,307.[33]Rise of the Planet of the Apes crossed the $150 million mark in the United States and Canada on its 26th day of release. Entertainment Weekly said that this was quite an accomplishment for the film since the month of August is a difficult time for films to make money.[34]

The film ended its run at the box office on December 15, 2011, with a gross of $176,760,185 in the U.S. and Canada as well as $305,040,864 internationally, for a total of $481,801,049 worldwide.[5]

Regarding the story setting up possible sequels, director Rupert Wyatt commented: "I think we're ending with certain questions, which is quite exciting. To me, I can think of all sorts of sequels to this film, but this is just the beginning."[49] Screenwriter and producer Rick Jaffa also stated that Rise of the Planet of the Apes would feature several clues as to future sequels: "I hope that we're building a platform for future films. We're trying to plant a lot of the seeds for a lot of the things you are talking about in terms of the different apes and so forth."[6]

Taking place ten years after Rise, Dawn follows Caesar's growing nation of evolved apes threatened by human survivors that put both sides in the brink of war.[55] Andy Serkis, Terry Notary and Karin Konoval reprised their roles as Caesar, Rocket and Maurice.[56] James Franco returned as Will Rodman in a "cameo via video".[57]Judy Greer and Toby Kebbell replace Devyn Dalton and Christopher Gordon as Cornelia and Koba.[55] Filming of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes started on North Vancouver Island in April 2013.[58] The film was released July 11, 2014.